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Is There A Market For New Dreamcast Console Shells?

Let's face it - the Dreamcast is enjoying something of an extraordinary rise in popularity as of late. The little console that didn't back in the day, has attracted a whole new audience to bolster the ranks of the ageing and decrepit veterans (like me) of the initial war in which the Dreamcast ranks were decimated. We have returned and we now have reinforcements.

With this in mind, firms like Retro-bit have jumped on the opportunity to capitalise on the renewed interest in the Dreamcast, and rightly so. The promise of affordable wireless controllers and VGA boxes has done wonders for the Dreamcast's reputation on social media. We want to go one step further though. Remember the aftermarket multi-coloured shells for the Dreamcast console? Well...why not bring those back too?

There were both official Sega-branded and unofficial Dreamcast console shells available back in the day and even though they were hard to acquire in the era of the Dreamcast, they have become almost impossible to find for a realistic price in the current climate. Only a couple of firms actually produced the third party shells, and these have long since gone bust, leaving the remaining stock to become highly collectable and fiercely contested when they appear on eBay.

With original Dreamcast consoles going yellow at an unprecedented rate (even after whitening, the colour fades after a couple of years), we are now calling on Sega to fire up those furnaces and moulds and re-issue aftermarket Dreamcast console shells. We don't care if they're in standard white, standard black or in any number of other colours - there is a huge market for this type of augmentation, and for Sega to ignore this demand would be pretty ridiculous.

Come on Sega - you rarely listen to your fanbase when it comes to software releases, but the recent collaboration with Retro-bit to bring wireless controllers to the mainstream showed that there is a real thirst for stuff like this. Listen to us. Listen to your fanbase. Get those Dreamcast moulds out of storage and give us a new range of multi-coloured Dreamcast console and controller shells and your license to print money will be reinstated.

What do you think? Would you buy these cases if Sega or a third party brought them back to market? We know we would! Let us know in the comments or join the conversation in our Facebook group or on Twitter.

When I heard of the announcement about Retro-But and Sega going into a partnership, and seeing the black wireless controller, I knew right away I wanted them to reproduce colored shells with official printed Sega markings on the front like the legit consoles. I hope that people will message and ask them as I have already done the day the pictures were leaked showing off the controllers.

https://twitter.com/Anthony_817/status/951179704903655425

As you can see I tweeted at them on the 10th asking for the very thing, and I was hoping I would get at least some kind of response from them. The fact that only 1 person even liked my tweet kind of kept it obscure I suppose. But I like where you are going with this article. Perhaps with more people suggesting this to them we can push them to at least make some in limited batches? I think many people would love official black ones without that God awful Sports logo on the controller and case lid.

My Dreamcast (thankfully) is still its original white color, but These are definitely cool. Considering the Dreamcast only really had a black and white model outside of Japan, new shells would help diversify.

We are not asking for painted cases, we are asking for multicolored licensed legit looking cases. If we were all inclined to do that then why would we be asking them for that in the first place? It should be very possible for them to produce new plastic that doesn't age as badly as the type of ABS plastic used officially. I am sure they could use some kind of modern coating on it or something to slow down discoloring.

Plus, you assume all people want to or know how to modify their cases? We can't make a case transparent can we? Sure you could paint one, but not everybody has the time or skills to paint.

I also dislike how generic painted cases look without the official Sega markings on the front of the case. I would, prefer to spend money on a professionally reproduced licensed case with nice plastic that matches the controller plastic they are using for the black wireless controller.

Heck, I for one would love to also do an internal wireless controller dongle mod. That would be pretty nice too have.

I actually bought one from ebay and i safely say they are great except for one issue...not sure if its just mine but after assembly i noticed that the case even with screws in tight does not actually close completely though you cannot tell just by looking the issue being that the power button will not work unless you hold down and "snap" the case closed long enough to push the button. I am working on seeing if i can find some longer screws because i am unsure if the ones i am using are just not long enough but if that doesn't fix it has anyone else had this issue and what did you do?

Definitely a market iv got one fitted on mine from back in the day and would love a clear and a blue shell but official sega licensed ones would devalue the rare transparent dreamcasts models that already exist